#  Sociology 98M: Social Class 

 



**Semester:** Spring

**Offered:** 2025

Class, one of the most basic analytical concepts in sociology, structures our social world in fundamental ways. Nevertheless, the extent to which social class is salient to people, and the specific content of class-based identities and class cultures, varies widely. This course is rooted in a comparison of the working class versus professionals and the upper middle class. The focus is on the United States while maintaining a comparative perspective on other national, historical, and cultural contexts. Reviewing a variety of contemporary studies and theoretical perspectives, we will pursue the following questions, among others: How do class-based identities relate to class structure? How are boundaries drawn between classes and among people of the same social class? What might undermine—or bolster—class consciousness in different contexts? And how is social class reproduced? In the U.S. case, how does class intersect with other aspects of American culture? Are class-based identities racialized? Throughout the course we will be attentive to the variety of research agendas on the topic and the various kinds of data that are brought to bear on these questions. After reviewing the relevant literature students will then design and execute their own original research projects that seek to elucidate some aspect of class identity or class culture. Students will have the opportunity to engage in each step of the research process, from question formulation and data collection to analysis and write-up. Along the way we will have workshops on the process of conducting primary research and on each student’s project. The methodological focus will be on interviewing, with an attention to how ethnographic data and surveys might also shed light on the subject.



 



 

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